CAIRO: Egypt is close to achieving no loss for 2009 in the tourism sector, said Hisham Zaazou, senior assistant to the Minister of Tourism. Revenues and the number of visitors from last year are expected to be the same this year, as the effect of the crisis appears to be less severe than expected. Currently, the Egyptian tourism industry is 4-5 percent below last year's revenues. "We started the year with a negative growth, but the negative growth is going down, said Zaazou on Sunday at a press conference at the Marriott Hotel. The press event was organized by the Egyptian Tourism Federation to announce the start of the "Tourism and Community initiative. Through this initiative, the federation, with the help of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Solidarity, will fund the renovation of the three SOS villages in Egypt. In two months, the renovation of the SOS village in Cairo will begin, and it is expected to end in May 2010. The initial investment in the project is LE 5 million. The project is also to include job training for SOS children aged 18 and older who are interested in employment in the tourism industry. Asked at the conference about the contradiction between training SOS children for the tourism industry and the practice of cutting the number of employees in the sector, Zaazou replied that there is no such practice. He explained that today, the continuous expansion of the tourism industry maintains a high demand for "fresh qualified labor. Over the past three years, the tourism sector has gathered more than LE 400 million to support community development projects; LE 122 million were allocated specifically to social service projects. Ahmed El-Nahas, chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation, pointed out that the tourism sector is employing 12 percent of the total labor force in Egypt and accounts for 11.6 percent of the national economy. El-Nahas added that despite the crisis, tourism investment and construction has continued. He said that there are no bankrupt projects, but some are expected to be delayed. "We have 211,000 rooms in operation. We have 190,000 rooms under construction, said Zaazou, expressing confidence that there would be enough tourists coming to Egypt to satisfy the supply of tourist accommodation. "The demand for Egypt is still, knock on wood, good, he said. He pointed out that the Ministry of Tourism is investing even more this year in marketing. Between $40 and $60 million will be spent this year for marketing and promotion activities. The negative effect of the economic crisis on Western Europe will not change the ministry's marketing strategy of targeting European tourists. The ministry is registering higher and higher numbers of tourists from the US and China. Europe, however, continues to get "special attention, as transportation infrastructure and proximity sustain Egypt's popularity with European visitors. Egypt's revenues from the tourism industry were $10.9 billion in 2008, a $2 billion increase from 2007. Last year there was also a remarkable growth in the number of visitors: 12.8 million compared to 11.1 million in 2007.
